Surgical nursing care was viewed as engaged or detached by women in hospital for hip surgery

Objective

To describe patients' perceptions of the nursing care that they received after total hip replacement surgery.

Design

Phenomenology.

Setting

A large public, acute care hospital in South Australia.

Patients

9 women who were in hospital for a total hip replacement. 3 men who had hip surgery during the study declined to participate.

Methods

Over a 10 month period in 1995, the women were interviewed before surgery, after surgery, and after discharge. Data saturation
occurred after multiple interviews with each of 9 participants. Each woman was asked to describe her experiences of the nursing
care that she received, including what was important to her about the care she received and the way in which she felt the
care had affected her. Interviews were tape recorded and then transcribed for further analysis.

Main results

2 major themes emerged. All women felt that they had come to the hospital …